More than 60 million Americans have some form of cardiovascular disease with a price tag of about $92 billion in medical costs.

HealthPartners offers two A Call to Change… phone courses for better heart health: Solutions for High Cholesterol Solutions for High Blood Pressure Participants schedule regular phone-based, one-on-one counseling with registered dietitians and pharmacists to set and reach their heart health goals. Each course includes a workbook, action planner, food and activity log and a clinic visit checklist. For more information and to register, please call 952-883-7800 or 800-311-1052 (outside the metro area), or call our TTY line at 952-883-7498.

Preventing heart disease before it happens can save as much as $3,000 to $5,000 annually in medical claims. So it should come as no surprise that a proactive, targeted approach like our coronary artery disease (CAD) program can have nearly 3:1 ROI for your company.

For CAD, CareSpan disease-management programs save more than $400 per person in medical claims each year – and more importantly, they help prevent more than 50 heart attacks and strokes each year. With CareSpan:

• Case managers work one-on-one with members and their doctors to create collaborative, customized programs that reduce preventable complications like high cholesterol and high blood pressure.
• Each person’s customized care plan focuses on individual needs and factors known to improve health and quality of life – like changing diet, increasing physical activity and losing weight.
• The goal is to tackle these key CAD contributors head-on with regular, personalized interventions that improve health and decrease hospitalizations for CAD-related diagnoses.
• Bottom line: it’s better care at a better cost – which is why HealthPartners has the lowest CAD care cost in Minnesota.

Participants can be referred to CareSpan by their doctors, by taking a health assessment or by opting in themselves.

CareSpan case study Greg is 57 years old, overweight, and worried about dying of a heart attack at 59 like his father did. When his routine checkup revealed big risk factors (weight, high cholesterol and high blood pressure), Greg’s doctor referred him to the CareSpan CAD program. A CareSpan case manager called Greg to review his test results and create an action plan to address those risk factors. That action plan included enrolling in HealthPartners phone courses for managing cholesterol and blood pressure. It also included joining a health club and setting regular doctor’s visits for follow-up tests. After five months with CareSpan, Greg has lost 20 pounds by walking regularly and making healthy changes in his diet. His case manager and doctor are keeping track of his progress and making sure he gets the right tests at the right time – and avoiding hospitalization. Greg’s on the right track to lower his risk of serious heart disease. To learn more about CareSpan please contact your HealthPartners Sales Executive.

No health plan does more than HealthPartners to help you develop a healthy workforce and control long-term health care costs. Our studies show that people who take our online health survey and complete our eight-week 10,000 Steps fitness program save an average of $280 in annual medical costs.

Our new Jump Start program puts it all together to deliver those real bottom-line results for you and your employees. Jump Start gives HealthPartners members:

• A free online health survey that calculates a personal health score
• A free personal action plan with tips and resources for improving their health now
• Free enrollment in the award-winning 10,000 Steps® program including a pedometer and online account to track progress.

Best of all, you don’t need to do anything. Members will be notified directly about Jump Start in the next couple weeks. You’ll be getting more information soon – including links to free promotional materials you can share with your employees.

Learn more today at healthpartners.com/jumpstart – and watch for more information about Jump Start next week.

Nobody provides more effective solutions for managing prescription drug costs than HealthPartners. While in 2005 national pharmacy trends were 12.8 percent, we're keeping our trend at just seven percent by aggressively promoting some simple member solutions:

More generics – In 2005, 58 percent of all drugs prescribed to HealthPartners members were generics, which cost 40 to 60 percent less than brand-name drugs. Several top-selling drugs will go generic this year, including Zocor and Zoloft, so members with a generic copay option could see an up to 50-percent reduction in costs. That adds up to big savings for employers.

Half-Tablet Advantage program – Some pharmaceutical companies charge the same price for their prescriptions regardless of the dosage strength. So a 30-day supply of a medication may cost $100, regardless of whether the tablets are 20 mg or 40 mg. HealthPartners members can buy a 30-day supply of higher-dose pills, then split them in half to create a 60-day supply – for a single copay. HealthPartners allows pill splitting for some medications that can safely be split, including some cholesterol drugs and antidepressants.

Mail Order Pharmacy service – Mail order is ideal for people who take more than one prescription or are on long-term maintenance medications. Prescriptions and over-the-counter drugs can be ordered by phone or online and delivered to your door – and shipping is FREE. Some members may be able to get a three-month supply of their prescription for the cost of two copays, depending on their plan’s benefits.

For more information about money-saving pharmacy options, go to healthpartners.com and click on Pharmacy.